U-T’s 2012 Persons of the Year

They died defending us all

Glen Doherty’s brother, Greg, a Marin County teacher, told us, “His actions were heroic from the start. We knew very early on he had rushed in to help that night, that he got 20 to 30 people out of the consulate.”

Tyrone Woods was found “slumped over his machine gun, which was caked with blood. He had continued to fire until he had no blood left and was unable to fire anymore,” Charles Woods, the former SEAL’s father, told The Washington Times.

Doherty’s family has no time for those who see the attack in a political context and who demand that heads roll in the Obama administration. His sister, Kate Quigley, of Marblehead, Mass., urges those who care about her brother to visit a website created in his honor,

“It’s clear that we could have been more prepared, but hindsight is 20/20. The primary responsibility is on the terrorists, not the American defense,” said Greg Doherty.

Tyrone Woods’ father is far more critical of the U.S. government. His son, stuck in Benghazi, died many hours after the initial attack. Charles Woods told a U-T reporter that there had been an official cover-up. “When a mission is compromised, within minutes — not hours — they extract them. Seven and a half hours, and they still have not extracted him. ... I have correspondence from people who are in the military, and they tell me extraordinary measures are always taken to rescue. And they didn’t do that with Ty, and there’s a reason why. We’re not getting the truth from anyone.”

It is U-T San Diego’s view that the truth needs to come out about what happened at Benghazi.

Today, our focus is on the victims, their good works, their lives of public service, their love for their families and devotion to their friends. These were individuals who inspired those around them.

“Glen believed in what he was doing. He really wanted to make a difference in the world. He liked the people he was with and believed in the mission he was on,” Greg Doherty told us. “But he was more than his job.”

In his 42 years, Doherty found time to become an accomplished pilot, skier, cook, white-water rafting guide and triathlete. After serving as a SEAL for 10 years, he co-authored “21st-Century Sniper: A Complete Practical Guide.”

“Glen was a super fun and caring person,” his brother said. “He spent a lot of time cultivating friends [and had] an ever-widening circle of interesting, talented, good people around him.”

Tyrone Woods was more low-key, and nearly all his family has kept a low profile in the aftermath of the tragedy. He was a SEAL for two decades before going to work as a CIA contractor in 2010. Woods was beloved by those who knew him as a devoted family man, a friendly and reassuring presence in his Imperial Beach neighborhood — and as a great patriot.

“He had the hands of a healer as well as the arms of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an official tribute to Woods on Sept. 14.